3rd party "clone" games

[nocturnal YL]

Yay, my first postin the third party board! Mainly because I don't usually bother with 3rd party games, being more of a "pure" Nintendo fan. (From this aspect, I have no intention to obtain Brawl.)

Anyway, 3rd party developers often make what we often call "clones" of Nintendo games, in the manner like, say, Banjo-Kazooie cloned Mario 64. I want to talk on such titles.

In regards to these games, I have to say that cloning is not a synonym to making bad games. Clones often produce better games. One example, IMO, would be Konami Krazy Racers. It looks like an attempt to create what some might call a Mario Kart Super Circuit substitute, but I think they did more. I tried that game for quite a while, and can safely say that it has actually surpassed the Mario Kart titles at that time. There are tests and 1P battle games, something not offered by Mario Kart series until MKDS.

Then, also in regards to these games, some give a feeling that they are actual ripoffs with zero originality. I don't know if it's just me, but I've seen some SSB-style clones - among others - on various 128-bit platforms (that would, surely, include GC). Most are anime-based games, and they really feel... generic.

So what am I trying to say? Well, as a way to refresh my (and perhaps your) mind towards clones. That they might not be 100% bad stuff.

[Game Guru]

I don't mind clones of Nintendo games, as long as they are good games. ;D

[8bitretroshit]

Konami Krazy Racers was fun but wayyyyyy too short. I completed every challenge a few hours after I bought the game. And since it wasn't on a console and I was the only one I know who bothered buying it.. well the game didn't last very long. Also the tests were too easy, especially when you unlocked Beartank. [/complaining]

Oh and people enjoy calling Jump Ultimate Stars a rip-off. Sure it has the 'characters from different series' thing going on like Smash, but the game plays different, with the card deck and the tag-team thing. With a shitload of different images(cards) there's a lot more customization going on too. Game's not balanced though, some characters have near instant kill specials.

[nocturnal YL]

JSS/JUS surely aren't ripoffs. They don't feel like Smash. At all. The only things that looks like it would be 4 people doing action-fighting... otherwise, no resemblance.

Konami Krazy Racers is, yeah, easy and short. It somewhat looks too obvious s a Mario Kart substitute - or rather, a pre-MKSC that lets you see what a GBA kart racer can be before playing MKSC.

[TV Eye]

There was a party fighter for the PS2 that seemed like a ripoff of Smash Bros. It had Solid Snake...

Also, Banjo Kazooie was kickass.

[Fryguy64]

DreamMix TV World Fighters? That was on PS2 and Gamecube. But then you could also fight Bomberman against Optimus Prime and Simon Belmont on an Adventure Island stage...

Man, I wanted that game so much...

[8bitretroshit]

I think you're talking about Dream TV World Fighters or something ridiculous like that. I have it for the cube. It's pretty fun, game's a bit like Smash Bros' coin mode. At the start of a match coins shoot out of a spot everywhere onto the map. These coins disappear after awhile so people gotta hog 'em quick. Picking up those coins will increase one's health on the weird health meter. By beating the snot out of your opponent some coins fly out, which you can pick up again to gain health. When you run out of coins, getting smacked once will knock you down and a cartoony heart flies out. If anyone grabs the heart, the person who it belonged to is 'out of the game'. When out you can still control your character, now gone tiny, but you can only perform simple jabs and not grab the hearts or coins of other people getting knocked out.
And that's it. It's the only mode it has. Also the game's stages hardly have items or hazards. Sure it holds no candle to Smash Bros, in my opinion, but it's amusing in it's own way. I mean it's got characters from Konami, Hudson and Takara, a toy company. So fighters include Snake, Simon Belmont, Master Higgins, Twinbee, Bomberman. . . but also friggen Optimus Prime and Barbie's sister from Japan.

Also Snake's overpowered like hell and it's hilarious. His special is the C4 thing, which is incredibly powerful and he can throw it forward by jumping. Just jump around and spam your special move button. Here's a really shitty convertion of a recording I made once of Snake kicking ass, I think I'll re-upload it to youtube once. Then you can actually see what the hell's going on.